[00:00:06] Good morning, Scott Luton here with you, Leive of Supply chain now. Welcome to the show. In today’s show, we’re continuing our Supply Chain Buzz series, a brief weekly look at some of the top news and trends across the global End to end Supply chain community. All in 50 minutes or less. Today’s episode of the Supply chain Buzz on Supply chain now is brought to you by the Effective syndicate, a leading coaching and consulting firm that helps companies win by optimizing process and developing winning cultures.

[00:00:38] Hey, are you and your organization looking to break through current obstacles to take the company to the next level? And if you need some hands on leadership horsepower to make that happen, give Beau Groover and his team a call. You can learn more at the effective syndicate dot com. Hey, it’s Monday, January twenty seven. Twenty twenty. Now let’s get to the buzz. So let’s start with some good news. We all need some good news, right? In our first story this morning, coming to us from Josh Zumbrun at The Wall Street Journal. We’re talking about a rosier outlook for the global economy. As we all know, 2013 was not a good year for the global economy. Its growth was the slowest since the Great Recession. But the International Monetary Fund, a.k.a. the IMF, has predicted global expansion of 3.3 percent in 2020. That’s up from 2.9 percent growth in 2019. The prediction is based on a number of factors, including an easing of tensions and a trade war between the U.S. and China, as well as a slowdown in aggressive monetary policy around the world. OK. So it’s not all good news. The IMF does expect the U.S. economy to grow at 2 percent in 2020, down from 2.3 percent in twenty nineteen. And it predicts the Chinese economy will grow at 6 percent, down from 6.1 percent last year. Amongst the world markets that the IMF is split expects rather to see robust growth in 2020. You ask Brazil, India, Mexico, Russia, economic growth in each of these countries may increase may increase a full percentage point over twenty nineteen numbers.

[00:02:30] In our second story here in the Supply chain buzz, we’re going to shift gears to one of the big cogs in the engine of the global economy. That of e commerce. According to a story from AP News, the E Commerce World has been flooded by fake merchandise. The United States Department of Homeland Security recently announced an action plan to crack down on counterfeit goods. According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, the international trade in counterfeit products rose a whopping one hundred fifty four percent from 2005 to 2016. So in 2016, that counterfeit product industry was estimated to be five hundred and nine billion dollars. DEA DHS is action plan calls for a variety of steps, including two items in particular e commerce companies to increase protection for consumers. And they’re challenging those same companies to better screen and select third party sellers. The department is particularly concerned about the potential danger that fake products pose to public health as counterfeit pharmaceuticals and cosmetics could wreak havoc. Havoc. The action plan might gain some steam and support right out the gate, as China has already agreed to address counterfeits as part of the Phase 1 trade agreement with the United States. Ali Baba, eBay, Amazon all were reported to welcome the plan in some way, shape or form. In each of those e-commerce titans have implemented their own plans to help fight, fight fake goods and protect their customers.

[00:04:16] For our third story on the Supply chain buzz today, let’s move over to focus own autonomous trucking. In a recent expansion of testing in the industry, according to a story about Matt Léonard over at Supply chain Dove, the company known as waymo, which was initially a self-driving car project at Google, has expanded its autonomous trucking testing program. Its long haul autonomous trucks will now operate in Texas and New Mexico. So for you travelers on at 10, I-20 and I-45 in that part of the U.S., you might just pass one of their vehicles. The first step appears to be closely mapping the routes by sensor delayed laden minivans, then waymo plans that take that data and scrub it intensively for accuracy. One big topic in the growing autonomous trucking world is hours of service regulations. There are a variety of views as to how hours of serve service is properly applied. For example, Embarks head of public policy Johnny Moore said, quote, If you imagine a vehicle that’s not limited by hours of service, it will be able to make a cross-country trip in a matter of two days instead of the five or six that are required by a normal human driver. But as we all know, it’s not that easy. Even the companies directly involved in the autonomous trucking industry have differing opinions on hours of service policy. So stay tuned. We will see how that all plays out. As we wrap up with story number four here on the Buzz US talk workforce.

[00:05:52] So according to a recent story over at the Hill, union membership in the U.S. fall has fallen to a record low of ten point three percent. Now, that’s almost half of what it was in 1983 when twenty point three percent of salaried workers were in labor unions. Behind the numbers provided by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. First number one, membership in unions in the public sector stayed pretty strong at thirty three point six percent, compared to just 6.2 percent in the private sector. Also, older workers were more likely to be unionized than younger workers by a four point margin. Men were also more likely to be in unions than females by one point one point margin. Also, half of the U.S. union members were concentrated in just seven states leading the way California, followed by New York, Illinois, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Ohio and Washington. Despite the numbers, unions pointed to recent victories like the GM strike and its outcome as reasons why unions were still highly relevant and effective. And public support for unions is at a near 50 year high, according to according to Gallup. So what say you? What’s your take on unionized workers in 2020? And what do you believe the future holds? Shoot us a note at Amanda at Supply Chain Now Radio dot com or tag us on Twitter at at SC in radio. One quick note before we wrap here today. The Supply chain Now team is holding our first live interactive form, part of our new stand up and Soundoff project on March 25th.

[00:07:41] So we’re flipping the script for this event. Our audience will be the star of the show. Their insights, observations and perspective is what will drive the conversation. Greg White and I will simply serve as moderators posing questions to our audience and passing the mike, so to speak, around what promises to be a passionate global crowd. Be sure to register as it will be limited. Find more information on the Webinars tab on our Web site supply chain. Now radio dot com. And I also will include a direct link in the show notes of this episode. And there you have it. That’s a wrap for today’s episode. Several of the leading Supply chain news stories and trends right here on the Supply chain Buzz on supply chain. Now you’ll find links to each of the stories that we featured today on the show, notes for your convenience, including a few additional resources such as our stand up and sound off project invitation. Big thanks to today’s sponsor of the Supply chain Buzz. The Effective syndicate be sure to check them out, including their blog at the effective syndicate dot com. To our listeners everywhere from Andrew down in Jacksonville to Mike over in L.A. to Edward in Belfast. All points in between. Thank you for joining us. And on behalf of the entire Supply chain Now team. This is Scott Luton. We wish you all a very successful week ahead. And thanks for joining us here on The Buzz.